


All Good Things (Come to an End)

by unquietspirit



Series: All Good Things [1]
Category: Fake News RPF, Pundit & Broadcast Journalist RPF (US), Real News RPF
Genre: Gen, Pundit Round Table
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-10-02
Updated: 2011-10-02
Packaged: 2017-10-24 07:25:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,094
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/260647
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/unquietspirit/pseuds/unquietspirit
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It was the first time they’d all gotten together since the start of Anderson’s new show, so naturally that was the opening topic of conversation.</p>
            </blockquote>





	All Good Things (Come to an End)

**Author's Note:**

> This was supposed to be a fluffy little comment!fic about the distribution of Emmys in the PRT. I have no idea what happened to it. Many internet brownies to sarken, my beta. She unstuck me so well that I wrote three different versions, and then she had to beta all three of them when I couldn't decide which one I liked best.

It was the first time they’d all gotten together since the start of Anderson’s new show, so naturally that was the opening topic of conversation.

“I think it’s great, Andy,” Stephen said. “You should be proud.”

Anderson smiled and then looked apprehensively at Jon, whose opinion, they all knew, mattered the most to him. “What did you think?”

Jon leaned back in his chair and rubbed his chin. “Well, I do have one criticism.”

“Yeeaah?”

“Couldn’t you have  _warned_  me that I’d need tissues for that one with your mom?”

“Hey,” Anderson giggled, raising his hands, “I didn’t even know  _I’d_  need tissues for it.”

“Andy, of course I’m going to cry if  _you_ cry. Just give me a heads-up next time so I don’t have to make excuses about allergies to my writers, okay?”

“Okay, okay. Rach, what about you?”

Rachel poked at her spaghetti sheepishly. “I haven’t actually been able to watch it. But, um. Susan said she loves it?”

“Oh, well, tell her I’m glad,” Anderson said. He picked up his sandwich and took a bite.

After a few seconds, Keith asked, “Don’t you want to know what  _I_  thought of it?”

The younger man looked at him in surprise. “I… kind of assumed you hadn’t watched, either,” he said around the mouthful of sandwich.

“Well, not every day,” Keith said, “but I caught the second one. The one where you seemingly found any excuse to be half-naked?”

Jon leaned over to whisper, “Of course he’d mention that,” into Stephen’s good ear, making the other man hide a laugh behind his hand.

Keith didn’t notice, and continued, “I also saw the one where you explained all your weird food issues and showed the whole world the inside of your refrigerator, and really, I have just one question, Anderson: where exactly  _do_  you draw the line between personal life and public life?”

“Keith--” Rachel began, attempting to head him off.

“Because it seems to me that there’s only  _one area_  of your personal life that you’re not willing to talk about.”

“Cut it out, Keith,” Stephen said, sounding, for him, pissed.

“No, it’s fine,” Anderson said. “He’s just jealous of my new Emmys.”

As a comeback, it was pretty weak. Keith snorted. “I wasn’t even eligible this year, kiddo.”

“Oh, so maybe it’s the fact that I’m kicking your ass in ratings? I’m up to second place this month, behind Fox.”

“Yes, all it took for you to beat MSNBC was for me to  _leave_.”

“Hey,” objected Rachel, “we’re still doing fine during my hour.”

“I was talking about eight o’clock,” Keith told her before turing back to Anderson. “Current’s ratings are very impressive for a young network with a small distribution. CNN is seen all over the world and has been around for how long, and they’re still struggling to make second place behind the idiots at Fox. That’s not something to be proud of, Giggles. But really, who can blame them when their top talent is spending half his time spray-tanning with reality TV starlets in a pathetic attempt to make middle-aged housewives fall in love with him?”

“Daytime--”

“Settle down, children,” Jon interrupted. “We’re starting to attract an audience.”

“And we wouldn’t want that,” Keith said. “People might ask questions about the silver fox’s personal life.”

“Keith, you know nothing about it, so just shut up, okay?” Rachel snapped. She pushed her chair back from the table, dropped a couple of bills next to her plate, and left.

“I think I’ll go, too,” Stephen said, pulling out his wallet. “I’ve lost my appetite.”

They watched him leave and then Jon turned to Keith. “You’re such an asshole sometimes,” he said quietly. “Andy, you coming?” 

Anderson shook his head, gaze on his plate. 

Jon looked between him and Keith for a moment, and then he, too, put enough money to pay for his lunch on the table and walked out of the diner after Stephen.

The two remaining men sat in silence for awhile before Keith shifted uncomfortably. “I know I’m an asshole sometimes. Maybe more than sometimes.”

Anderson sighed and peeled the top piece of bread off his sandwich to pick at the tomatoes. “There comes a point where knowing and admitting that isn’t enough, and I think we passed it a few years ago. I just…” He rubbed a hand over his forehead. “How many times are we going to have this argument, Keith?”

“As many as it takes,” the other man replied with a stubborn set to his chin.

“Takes for  _what_?” Anderson asked, finally looking at him. “You think you’re going to bully me into talking about it? Oh, who am I kidding, of course you do. You think you can bully anyone into anything. I ought to do a bullying special on  _you_.”

“That’s not true.”

“Then what are you hoping to accomplish?”

“…I really don’t know,” Keith said, honestly. “But it’s not to bully you.”

“I don’t know what  _else_  it could be. It seems pretty obvious that you don’t like me.”

“It’s not that, either. It’s just… you sometimes rub me the wrong way, I guess.”

The younger man’s lips twitched briefly in an approximation of a smile. “Same for me. But those times are happening more and more frequently, lately.” 

That was true for Keith, too, but he didn’t see the point of replying. 

When Anderson spoke again, he sounded exhausted. “Maybe it’s time we acknowledged that we’re not compatible as friends and started hanging out with the others separately,” he said. “I don’t want our inability to get along to keep causing issues.”

“You know that if they have to choose between us, Jon and Stephen are going to pick you. Hell, I’m not sure even Rachel would pick me,” Keith said, fighting down a fear that he attributed to the thought of loosing his closest friends.

“It won’t be a choice between us for them. I’ll make sure they understand that. We’ll just stop doing things with all five of us together.”

Keith looked at him for a long moment.

“Okay.”

Anderson nodded and stood up. “I’ll tell the others,” he said as he pulled out his wallet.

Keith reached for his own at the same time. “Let me get that for you.”

“…Thanks.”

The crease between Anderson’s eyebrows deepened, and he pressed his lips together as he watched the other man collect the money scattered around the table and add enough for their meals to the pile. Finally, he softly said, “Have a nice life, Keith,” and walked away.


End file.
